Hot Wheels in South Africa

There’s always something left-of-centre to see when you are out and about on South Africa’s roads. The reasons I don’t have an endless reel of pictures to share with you are that a) it’s not advisable to wave a smart phone or camera around for all to see when stuck in traffic and b) I’m rarely in the passenger seat and in general when you’re driving, you should’t be taking photos. Here are the few that I have captured.

Not so long ago I wrote about the taxi buses with windows held in place by criss crossed packing tape. This bus appears to have previously had the packing tape quick-fix remedy, but has since presumably been repaired as you can see the sticky residue left behind when the tape was removed.

Still on the subject of public transport we next have this ropey looking Metrobus with its innards on display. I’m not sure whether it had any passengers on it, but it was out in the morning traffic.

Ever wanted to see what the inside of the backside of a bus looks like?

Moving on from public transport we have business vehicles where the drivers often kindly invite their workers to play a jolly game of Sardines. The guys in this truck are unlikely to fall out unless the truck turns over, but you often see workers perched around the rim of a bakkie where they could far more easily tumble out and come to grief. To find out what a bakkie is, click HERE.

Game of Sardines anyone?

And then of course we have the private vehicles to consider. We see some very special customised ones. I previously wrote about South Africans and their obsession with dogs in the post Pound Houndand here is a case in point. This dog owner has adapted his vehicle to accommodate his giant pet. Those inconvenient things called windows have been removed, as has the rear seating creating a One-Man-and-his-Dogmobile.

It’s a dog’s life.

…and lastly, this car thinks it’s a suitcase with all those travel stickers. Spotted at the Lion Park in Gauteng.

This car thinks it’s a suitcase with all those travel stickers.

Oddities on the roads are of course found everywhere in the world. I saw this clip from the UK last week – a horse box broke down causing a traffic jam. Instead of hawkers, hooting horns or people trying to drive the wrong way down the motorway, see what eccentric brilliantness happened instead: HERE